Familiar and Different – Secrets to Success

It was 19 years ago today, that Kurt Cobain passed away.  Nirvana was a very interesting success story.  At the time, they seemed totally out of left field for most of the business.  Years after their success, labels were signing clones, but no one had the songs or the attitude right.  Just a bunch of terrible trios flooding Rock.

Like every Nirvana fan, something grabbed me quickly.  There was something Familiar about their songs.  I remember comparing “Even In His Youth” to the Kinks.  That was the B-Side to the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” single that circulated around the country.  This was a classic story of people who loved a band and turned friends onto the music.  Seemed like the week the single was out, everyone was asking me if I like that band.  That was always the sign of a successful band, if people were not just talking about them, but were excited to share it with you.  That was the old way, now people share links to a youtube clip or something.  Same concept, just faster.

At the same time, all my friends into 80’s metal hated the Seattle scene.  They didn’t get that is was like 70’s rock reinvented.  They just thought it was sloppy musicians making crappy music.  Those guys missed the point. So many great bands, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and mixes of those bands like Temple Of The Dog or Mad Season.  Nirvana had two vital elements for all successful musicians.  They had enough Familiar sounding material that it was easy to digest, and enough of a Different sound to stand apart from the crowd.  Rocking grooves.  Minor scale melodies that could have easily been created by John Lennon.  Backed by wild grunge, sometimes Punk, Indy, or some other variation of Rock.  They always included emotion in their songs.  Everyone one of them made you feel something!  Remember when music did that?!

I could bore everyone with a long list of the most successful bands in history, but I’ll spare your attention spans.   Aside from making people feel something emotional, they all  combined that balance of Familiar and Different.  Think about it!  Use it!

Led Zeppelin – The Original Internet Band. AKA, Your Competition!

Anyone else notice, that no one cares about new music?  With the entire history of music at our fingertips, a band needs to be abso-friggin’-amazaballs for anyone to give a damn!

I’m always a bit of a late adaptor.  Got my first iPod in 2002-ish.  Everyone I knew, including myself, were completely blown away that we could keep our entire library of music in our pocket!  Being a bit of a music historian, I immediately dreamed on the future.  “Wouldn’t it be cool, if this also played video?”  Can you imagine not just having your own library in your pocket, but a music video library too?!  I’m  not talking about cheesy MTV stuff, I’m talking about Chuck Berry or Bo Diddley in their prime.  Seeing how Muddy Waters grooved while singing so very deeply and seriously.  Can you imagine how awesome that would be.  Got a friend who never heard of Bo Diddley? “Oh, let me just pull up a video on my video iPod!”.   Yes, I dreamed it up.  Years later it’s a reality!  Thanks to iPhones and YouTube, that is the world we live in now.  It’s a great time to be alive!

Bo’ Diddley

Led Zeppelin.  That band was a self contained music history lesson.  Anyone who really believes they maliciously stole music is clueless about the british bands in the 60’s.  These guys knew more about American blues and country than any American did!  They loved it!  They only wanted to share their favorites with fans.  Jimmy Page even backed Sonny Boy Williamson when he was in England.  Can you imagine Sonny Boy, missing teeth, in his 50’s, backed by a bunch of white, clean,  British kids!  I think most of that band was The Yardbirds.  But, Led Zeppelin also had two very important qualities.  I have another rant about this.  They were both Familiar and Different at the same time!

I didn’t actually care about Led Zeppelin until ‘License To Ill’ came out.  It was my brother’s 6’4 black friend Clint, who turned me onto Zeppelin.  ( Only mention he’s african-american, cause that somehow gave Zeppelin some cred to me.  If he was a stoner/hippie, I never would have given them a chance)   He told me, “You realize all the Beastie Boy songs are just Zep songs, right?!”  Judging from posters on people’s walls, I thought Zep was an acoustic band.  But, I listend to Clint and borrowed his Physical Graffiti cassette.  He didn’t get it back.  The Wanton Song hooked me deep!  Thanks Clint!   In addition to my brother, Clint also gave me the confidence to start playing guitar.  So, thanks for that too!

Zeppelin was all over radio, so by the time I got into them, a lot of the songs were “familiar”.  But there were also enough “different” songs that I got obsessed.  No one else sounded like that.  One band that could enjoy Blues classics and pump out totally unique originals.  One source of lessons.  One source for variety.  One place to go to learn so much.  Everything from songwriting to the music bizz.   There’s a reason they are still worshiped years later.  Now that internet-fast, on-demand content is at our fingertips, you better beat Led Zeppelin or no one is going to care.  You are directly competing with them!

Phil X’s Surprise Birthday Bash

This is the kind of party that can only happen in a few places on the planet Earth.  Los Angeles being one of them.

(Stole this pic from Dan’s FB page)

Drilling

About three months earlier, I get a party invite from Phil’s girlfriend Lindy.  Awesome women, by the way.  She was planning a surprise party for Phil.  Of course, everyone who knows the guy accepted.  So, about 150 people filled the hidden studio near Van Nuys airport called, Dance Revolution.  It was filled with the perfect amount of celebs and behind-the-scene masterminds.  Soon as we walked in, BIlly Sheehan, Ross Hogarth, Dave Friedman, Mike Longworth, Jeff Barry!  Google the man, he’s a super-tall, 74 year-old legend.  I was joking about him giving me life changing advice in under 30 seconds.  He said, “Tell the truth, and people will respond.”  We were talking about song writing, but I suppose that can apply to everything.  In addition to the legends, I ran into a TON of very dear friends.  It was a damn good night.

Lindy walked Phil in Blindfolded. and we proceeded to scare the shit out of him, by yelling “Surprise!”.  We was in shock, trying to process what the heck was going on.  By the time Phil got there, Tommy Lee pops out of no where.  Not even sure how he snuck in without everyone smothering the guy.  It took me a super long time before saying ‘hi’.  I got to go to Tommy’s 40th birthday party, and that was another amazing night, that I could probably write a chapter in a novel about.  Anyway, back to Phil.  Not only was he completely surprised, he was actual confused.  Having already had his birthday pass, he was completely caught off guard.  Always fun doing that to people.  🙂

I regret not taking more pictures.  I was too busy having fun.

From Left to right: Scotty Kalb, Phil X, Ross Hogarth

20130331-074943.jpg

Lindy had a friend put together a movie of Phil’s life and projected it on a large screen.  This thing was totally ‘movie documentary’ quality.  Everyone got teary eyed at times, laughing our asses off at other times, and constantly cheering for the awesome rockness that we witnessed.

She also planned ahead and had a full back-line set up with a PA and tons of cool gear for jamming.  Phil warmed up with a few Drills songs.  They sounded awesome from the first power chord.  The rest of the night was filled with friends jamming random classic rock goodies.  “Superstitious”, “Somebody Get Me A Doctor”, “Highway Star”, a few different Zep songs.  Here’s the part that kills me.  A friend needed a ride home and I was sober enough to sneak away for a few minutes.  Of course when I was gone, they were calling me up to jam.  Missed opportunity.  Oh well.  🙂

There was a back-line of Friedman Amps!  Dirty Shirley 100 on one side, Brown Eye on the other.  They both sounded killer! Just before the rocking, Dave Friedman and Mark Day were making sure their amps were set up and ready to roar.  Very cool guys.  I followed them around like they were the world’s biggest rockstars.  I’m pretty certain they found me totally annoying.

20130331-075129.jpg

I don’t know what I liked better, the awesome amps or the beautiful  girls!  Not a bad life, right?! 🙂

My new Facebook profile pic.  Using my friends girlfriend’s to make me look cooler! From left to right, Buffy, Myself, Kellie.

Pimpin

Totally great night.  Definitely blog-worthy material.  Looking forward to many more Birthdays with Phil!

Rock on!

Lefsetz Letter » Blog Archive » Then/Now-Media Edition

Lefsetz Letter » Blog Archive » Then/Now-Media Edition.

I recommend all musicians subscribe to Bob’s emails.  He’s not just my favorite Mr. Crankypants, he speaks lots of truth!   We’ve never met.

Click the link below to visit his blog.  You can sign up for his emails there too.

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2013/03/19/thennow-media-edition/

Making The Best With Whatcha Got.

Tangent time!

Ever have one of those days where nothing sounds good?  Bouncing from amp to amp, guitar to guitar, and nothing satisfies?  Is buying more gear the solution?  Maybe, if I just get those different pickups, THEN I’ll be satisfied and inspired!   Well, my week started out like that.  I hated the sounds of everything I owned, but then I had an epiphany.

If you only own one thing, you will make it work!

When you only have one amp, you dial it in until it works.  That may take time.  Balancing “can you hear it?” vs “does it sound harsh” vs “does it sound sloppy” vs “does it sound boring”.  Eventually, you find a happy place and learn to live with it.

Same with Guitars.  When only own one, you spend more time making sure it’s the best it can be.  Adjusting the pickup high, until it’s just right, trying different kinds of strings, etc.

The point is, too much stuff just creates clutter and confusion.  When you own less, you find a way to make it work.  There’s also good TED talks about the dangers of too many options.  Turns out, humans can’t handle it.

Remember those early Van Halen albums.  Ed used the same amp for at least 10 years.  Of course it was a great Marshall, or maybe he made it great.  Using one amp, that only sounded good at maxed volume,  forced him to experiment.  Not just with variacs, but with amp slaving, different speakers, and ultimately modding his guitars to work best with that amp.  He made the best of what he had.  Does everyone really think he got the greatest Marshall ever made?!  He would have found a way to make any amp work.

Find what works for you and stick with it.

To quote the incredible Phil X, “If you have a great guitar and a great amp and aren’t happy with the sound, start thinking it’s the Indian and not the arrow.”   (PC- correction: Why were Native Americans called Indians?  That was a totally different continent and country. Stupid white people, they ruin everything)

Now having said that, I think I’ll spend the rest of the day browsing to figure out what amp I’ll buy next.  🙂

Friedman Amplification | The Pink Taco

Friedman Amplification | The Pink Taco.

I got to play one of these at the LA Amp show the Fall of 2012.  Mr Friedman said it’s basically a brown eye single channel head.  20 watts of point-to-point wiring means, this will probably be my next purchase.  I love my Hard Wired Edition Tiny Terror, the Pink Taco is only about $200 more than I spent for that.

I love small amps that roar!

63751_356827517747539_1964813572_n